That's wonderful Mike. So true :) On 21/02/2013, Mike Morris <morrisind@rogers.com> wrote: > I saw this today (author unknown) in a Lancashire family history site. > Thought you might appreciate these sentiments.................... > > My thanks to the unknown lady who sent this in. > > Mike Morris > Toronto Canada > > > >> >> >>"We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find >> the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To >> tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. >> >>Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing >> life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. >> All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those >> who have gone before cry out to us: "Tell our story". So, we do. >> >>In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood >> before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the >> ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us." How >> many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love >> there for me? I cannot say. >> >>It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do >> the things I do. It goes to seeing a > cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I > can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my > flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our > ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are > today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving > in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their > family. It goes to deep pride that the fathers fought, and some died, to > make and keep us a nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that > they were doing it for us. >> >>It is of equal pride and love that our mothers struggled to give us birth, >> without them we could not exist, and so we love each one, as far back as >> we can reach. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember >> them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their >> existence, because we are they and they are the sum of > who we are. >> >>So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one >> called in the next generation to answer the call and take my place in the >> long line of family storytellers. That is why I do my family genealogy, >> and that is what calls those young and old to step up and restore the >> memory or greet those who we had never known before." >> >>Author: Unknown >> >> > > > > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > Except for personal messages, please post replies to the list. > Other people can learn from them! > > Be sure list mail is in PLAIN TEXT. > > Please SNIP when replying. > > Buy or sell family research items on the GEN-MAT-UKI mailing list. No fees! > > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-MANCHESTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >